


The in Between

by upsteadheart



Category: Chicago PD (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 12:07:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29900841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/upsteadheart/pseuds/upsteadheart
Summary: What we didn’t see between the 8x03 end scene and the 8x04 morning scene. A conversation between partners as they cross a line into something more.
Relationships: Jay Halstead & Hailey Upton, Jay Halstead/Hailey Upton
Kudos: 60





	The in Between

“He wasn’t really wrong though, was he?” Hailey brought up, making her partner look at her curiously, not exactly sure what she meant. “You gain something, you give somethin’ up.” She clarified.

Oh, that. He wasn’t too sure how to answer that for the first few seconds after his partner made the statement. A small sigh escaped him. “Maybe, but… Not always.” Jay told her, not knowing how Hailey would react.

But he’d done this dance before. Not being able to keep his mind off his partner, falling for her, and jeopardizing something of equal value to him in exchange for the chance to be with her.

Difference was this time, Jay didn’t have to think twice about whether or not he was ready to make sacrifices for her. He’d give up the ability to breathe if it meant he got to spend his last dying breath with her.

Though he never would’ve made such a bold statement before the blonde came into his life, there wasn’t much in Jay’s life that hadn’t changed after Hailey made her first appearance.

Hailey’s mouth opened and shut just as fast, as if she were about to say something. But her eyes teared up instantly, and clearly pushing them back took all the might she had in her.

“Ugh.” She dropped, doing something Jay had rarely ever seen his partner do, get emotional over something publicly.

It was only ever at one of their apartments after a tough case, or in the bullpen long after everybody else had gone home for the night. Never out in the open, at a bar where people all around them could see.

She inhaled sharply through her teeth, gathering up what very little strength she had left in her. “It’s been a long time…” Hailey told him, nodding her head slightly as she realized the magnitude of what she was doing here, of what she was about to say to him.

“… since I saw you as just my partner… ugh.” She mentally scolded herself, as her curled finger wiped away a tear that managed to get loose and spill over her eyelid.

Hailey then looked back at Jay, still in disbelief that she’d really gone and admitted that, deathly afraid of what his reaction to her confession might be.

But he took her fully aback. Without saying another word, Jay crossed into her threshold, wrapped his arms around her waist, holding his partner into him, as his lips captured hers passionately.

Hailey stiffened for just a single second, until her brain registered the sensation of Jay’s lips all over hers. She threw her arms out and hooked them around his neck to keep herself from falling over.

As Jay’s tongue danced along her bottom lip, Hailey parted them slightly to invite his in to dance with hers. Damn, she thought. They’d always been synchronized, but this was a whole other level.

Once they parted and both came up for air, their foreheads pressed together, both of their smiles expanding, as Jay brushed Hailey’s nose with his.

“Wanna get outta here?” He breathed to her, birthing a sack of butterflies in her stomach. Was this really happening? 

Hailey simple nodded her head, slipping her hand into his bigger one, as Jay extended it towards her. He led her out of the bar, both of them catching smiles from their usual bartender at Cork & Kerry, probably having waited for this moment longer than either of them.

\--

It is a good thing that Cork & Kerry is less than a fifteen-minute drive from Hailey’s apartment, because having to drive across town with the sexual tension in the air of the truck thick as it was in that moment, either or both of them would combust.

At a red light, Jay dropped his hand to her knee, making Hailey smile coyly in his direction, wrapping her fingers through his.

The remaining six-ish minutes of the drive towards her place, gave Hailey the opportunity to really think about tonight and what it meant for them.

For their friendship, for their partnership, and whatever would become of both of them after tonight. Was she ready for all that change coming their way?

\--

Jay took a chance and parked in the underground structure of Hailey’s building, praying she didn’t make a comment about the fact this most certainly meant he was intending on spending the night.

He followed her into the complex and up the stairs towards the third floor where her unit was, their hands linked.

Reaching the door, Hailey’s unstable hands fumbled to get her keys in the door and unlock it, while Jay had his arms around her waist, pushed her hair from her shoulder, and his lips latched onto her fair skin.

Hailey bit her lip hard, trying to focus on the task at hand. No way was she gonna openly start moaning in the hallway outside of her apartment.

Finally, Hailey the door unlocked, and all but shoved Jay inside, shutting the door behind them with her foot.

Somehow, as Jay backed her towards her bedroom, both of their eyes closed, lips not daring to break apart, they missed absolutely every obstacle in their way, and made it straight into the bedroom.

They crossed the threshold into her bedroom, stepping into sacred ground. Jay had been in Hailey’s bedroom all of twice in the four years they’d known each other.

The first time had been at her old place, when he came to pick her up for work, she let him use her bathroom, and by the time she remembered that she had forgotten her phone on her nightstand, she was already dressed in her coat and boots, and asked him to grab it for her.

The second time, was when Hailey had just moved into this apartment after she had gotten back from New York, and she’d traded him a six pack and pizza to help her unpack everything, and Jay had helped her put up the new curtains in her room.

Other than that, this was her sanctuary. A place Jay knew his partner didn’t let anybody into. She even kept the door closed whenever he and the team came over to watch a game.

So, the fact that he was here right now, and Hailey was willingly letting him into her sacred territory, meant things really were changing tonight.

Hailey stepped back for just a second, pulling the elastic band from her hair and tossing it onto the nearest surface, then stepped back over to her partner, and fell back into a rhythm with him.

Jay hooked a finger through the loop on her jeans, pulling her close. He undid the button on her black skinny jeans, and pulled down the zipper, before freeing her plaid shirt from its confines, and beginning to undo the buttons from the bottom.

Hailey returned the favor, unfastening the buckle on his belt, before pulling the leather from the loops of his jeans and tossing it to the ground.

Undoing the last button on her flannel, the top fell from Hailey’s chest, leaving her top in just her black lace bra. He always was a gentleman first, but the sight of his partner without her shirt on wasn’t one he could resist too easily.

Finding their state of dress fairly unbalanced, Hailey caught him up fast, grabbing the hem of his blue Henley, and pulling up over his head, letting it join hers on the ground.

Jay’s hand came up under her hair, landing on her cheek. His stroked his thumb over her always impressive cheekbone, and smiled into her sparkling eyes.

Bringing his lips back down to hers, he backed her slowly towards the edge of the bed, then gently lay Hailey on her back in the center of it.

With her partner hovered above her, Hailey’s hands wrapped around his strong forearms. “Gonna have to get you to show me how to stay in a plank for this long without your arms givin’ out.” She joked, making Jay smiled warmly.

She was stalling. And for what Jay couldn’t quite figure out. “Hails…” He breathed softly, looking down into her gaze. “Whatsa matter?” Jay asked her, able to read her like a book, and see the nerves rising in her.

Hailey chewed her lip. Not wanting this to end between them, but equally as terrified of things moving forward.

“I’m scared.” She revealed to him honestly, barely a whisper falling from between her lips. “Scared of what?” Jay, lowered himself down to the bed and sat on the edge beside her, so he wasn’t intimidatingly towering over her.  
A sigh escaped his partner. Too many things at once, was the answer she wanted to give him. “Was this a bad idea?” Jay asked her before she could. “No, no.” Hailey shook her head, dropping her hand to his, their fingers holding each other’s.

“Jay, you don’t know how long I’ve wanted to be here. Or how happy I am that we are.” She assured him.

“Me too, Hails. So, what’s got you so scared? The last thing I ever wanna do is hurt you.” He asked her. Hailey shook her head. “You could never. She promised him.

Jay gave her a minute, waiting it out and staying silent while she gathered her thoughts. “There’s no going back after this.” Hailey expressed her fear.

“Hails, if you think I’m here tonight to sleep with you and then take off right after –” “No… Course I don’t think that, Jay.

But this isn’t either of our first rodeos. You know as well as I do what happens when the lines blur with someone you work with, especially a partner.” She didn’t have to clarify. He got the idea right away, and knew exactly what Hailey was referring to.

“Come here.” Jay took her by the hand, and brought them both towards the head of the bed, lying side by side.

Hailey let her head drop to the pillow’s soft surface, her eyes on Jay’s, and her nerves only kept somewhat calm by the sensation of his hand holding hers, stroking his thumb over the back of it.

“Things have been different with you since the second you walked into my life.” Jay told her. “How fast we clicked, the way that we developed a dozen different communication systems in the first few weeks of working together, the insane amount of trust I had in you from day one…

And we just got closer and closer every single day of the last four and a half years, until we reached this point where you’ve become my other half in every single way imaginable. You’ve broken down walls and barriers that I’ve had built up inside of me for decades.

And you did that through doing absolutely nothing but just being you, and being there with me and for me, no matter what.” A small smile crossed her features at that.

“It’s just one more wall, Hails. And I know that doesn’t make it any less scary, or any less meaningful. But nothing about how much I care about you, how much I value you, and how much I need you in my life is going to change or diminish just because we cross a line tonight.” Jay expressed to her.

Both hands on his cheeks, Hailey kissed him squarely and poured her whole heart into it. Jay’s hand fell to her curls, the other arm wrapped around her back, as he shared in the affection.

When they pulled back, Hailey leaned her head against Jay’s shoulder, dropping a small sigh. “You know there’s a very real chance that we get handed an ultimatum.” She brought up.

“You and I, we got a lot of pull in Intelligence, Hails. Everything we both got on Voight, you really think he’s likely to give either of us the boot?” Jay suggested. Had a point there.

“But, this is all hypothetical talk right now. I spent that whole time you were in New York wishing that you were here, and when you got back I wasted more time biting my tongue.

I’m not biting it anymore. All I want right now is you. We can deal with everything else later just like we always do, together.” And with that Jay finally got Hailey to smile.

“In which case…” She hooked her finger through the loop of his jeans. “… I think you’re wearing entirely too much clothing.” The blonde grinned playfully.

And Jay agreed that they were wearing too much clothing. They took their time ridding each other of their clothing, one article flying at a time, leaving sweet kisses along the way, as they neared their mutual end goals of rendering the other threadless. Jay showed Hailey that she’s all his and only his, as they made love through the night for the first of what was to be many, many nights spent together.


End file.
